Today, Billboard has announced a new subscription-based tool, called Billboard Pro, aimed at emerging artists.
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With 10 million Billboard chart views per month, the company has decided to leverage its considerable clout in the music analytics space to offer a service that provides both data analytics and promotional opportunities to artists.
The most useful aspect of Billboard Pro for artists will likely be the Dashboard, an information aggregator that tracks song plays, page views, fan activity, blog and Twitter mentions, and sales and airplay.
Billboard got more into the newer metric of fan engagement with Social 50 a few months back. Now they’re introduced a similar chart called Uncharted, which measures fan engagement via a “heat score.” Heat scores are calculated based on data from MySpace and Next Big Sound.
Two basic requirements for an artist to appear on Uncharted are a registered MySpace Music profile and having not previously appeared on outlined Billboard charts.
While Next Big Sound tracks artist data on major music hubs like YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook, it seems a bit odd for Billboard to also rely heavily on MySpace data, as many artists have begun to find new alternatives to the site, such as Soundcloud and Bandcamp.
Billboard’s Pro subscription also comes with editorial bits, such as “Five Tips to Get Booked at a Music Festival” penned by Jonathan Mayers, of Superfly Productions (who co-produce Bonnaroo), as well as case studies, how to’s, and news. Billboard Pro members will also have the chance to be featured in artist write-ups that will appear on Billboard Pro.
Full access to the service is $99 for one year, though there is a four-week trial period before your credit card is charged.
